OGHF 10 Years Old this Month
It was ten years ago this month that the Old Gits Having Fun was born, the reason for the creation was to provide a place where both myself and my son (Dedly) could enjoy what was obviously an interest that he had and that I would not be able to stop. So to manage his interest I thought the right thing to do as a parent was to be there to guide him through his early steps into the world of online gaming.
The game that had just been released at the time was Call of Duty:World at War so it seemed the right thing to do to setup servers and try to attract players. I setup two servers a TDM and DM, over a few weeks they started to fill and we played them as they were. Soon it became apparent that many people had some very broad views on what was acceptable in the world of online gaming. As a parent and a person with certain views on life I found this unacceptable so I started looking into ways to apply a rule set throughout the day even if I was not their to admin the server using Rcon tools.
The first remote admin tool I used was called Manuadmin. This was a tool that allowed rule-sets for swearing and also penalties for weapon use if it was on the banned list. However as the servers became more popular it struggled to deal with the volume and therefore our journey with the B3 began.
Once the servers became popular more and more in the chat were requests for our website address, so I decided the site should be born. The website came on-line at the end of January 2009 and started in a very basic form, but soon had ultrastats added to it this stat application was actual promoted during the early days of WAW. The adding of the stats increased the involvement of the players with the site and I then started accepting applications to wear tags.
After the success of the World at War servers I then added Call of Duty:Modern Warfare servers to our server lists. Our early servers were hosted by a number of providers but it all started with GTXGaming. The servers were hosted this way for the first year or so but it soon started to cause restrictions particularly in the way in which the admin tools could be applied. So I then decided to acquire a dedicated server that was held in the Poundhost datacentre. Our voice server in those days was Ventrilo and provided by Rackspace. Baggins funded this for us and was our initial sound engineer.
We then grew and grew as a community adding games to our list as they were released and interest in them was shown. Through out this growth many members came and went but a number choose to hang around the mad house. To name everyone would be a huge task, and I am not sure if they would want to be named. So I will list what they enabled for the clan and with these elements we would not be what we are today. But before I do that there is one I will mention because I know for a fact how he felt about us. That is a gentleman who went by the name of Haggis. I never met this individual in person but he was a true friend to both myself and many others. He understood what I was trying to create with the OGHF and stuck with a never weakening determination to ensure that all members walked the path of the "Old Git". I will never forget him and will always have a fond place in my heart for him.
Elements that have been contributed and some are still being today are:-

A huge commitment by the Admin team to keep our servers a clean,fun and fair place to play.

Support during our years with Homefront,BF3 and BF4 Servers to both admin and provide B3 Hosting support.

A council that keeps the approach consistent

Support with the management of our first generation of the Teamspeak server (Can I have a Token again....)

A core of donators who have helped keep the financial burden to a minimum, a couple of which who have consistently contributed for many years.

The above is not all of the contributions, but to list them all would be huge and I wish to thank everyone who has helped the OGHF achieve 10 years.

What are doing to mark this event then? well there are 4 new servers that I have created, they are as follows:-

Call of Duty 2

This has been created for a couple of reasons firstly Haggis loved this game and secondly it is a memory of a time when I felt that we had achieved something within the clan community. Many years ago I was approached by a player with the nick "Oneal" (I am sure that is correct) his clan BC was starting to reach a point where their numbers were dropping and asked if we could merge. We did, I think the last remaining member we have from that time is "Pheel".

Medal of Honor (2010)

This marked the first successful "Frostbite" based game for the OGHF and it allowed for many fun evenings. We hosted many frostbite games and had many members join use for that reason. One of which we sadly lost whilst he was enjoying one of his other passions "Gandalf".

World at War

Yes I know we host a server for this and it is very successful, but this will be the vanilla variant as hosted back in 2008. So that means no custom maps, no Mad, tanks will be rolling about and the dogs will be let out. There will be a 24/7 map as well.

Call of Duty modern warfare

As above I know we host one already, but vanilla again, no custom maps, no mod, GL's and all perks are back and the chopper will kill you. Again a 24/7 map will be applied.

The above servers will all be password protect and can be used by all website members. I say website members as it will not be restricted to tag wearers, anyone registered on the site will be able to see the password. Also any TAG wearer can invite whoever they like. These servers will not have bot intervention.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OGHF!!! Congratulations and a big THANK YOU!! to the boss. Flats, OGHF is a great clan to belong too. My time here has been enjoyable, although I may never meet any in person it still feels so much like a family. May we have many more years together!!!

10 years... Amazing what you have achieved Flatty. You and then all the guys and gals back then that latched onto what you were trying to achieve, and then helping you implement it.
Plus those that joined you later right up to this very day. All believing in the format, and making this a fun and relaxing place to game and interact.
An Oasis of diverse virtual relaxation.
Thank you for keeping it all going, a huge ask considering your time constraints of your day job.
Well done. And happy Anniversary.

Viva Old Gits
TubeSlayer

PS. Its an anniversary for Dedly as well as without him there would have been no need for all this.

10 Years, congrats OGHF
Thank you Flatty for putting up this community, and still keep it running
sofar a great ride and still going, lets keep this going for a long, long time gits.
good to have a gaming family, thank you all

Amazing post flattyy, and very insightful as well, I was never familiar with the way this clan started. The history in itself would be interesting to present to our guests as to see where we come from and to see how long we are already going strong. Thank you. Thank you for setting up this clan and for making it possible for so many people to enjoy these old shooter games. I am sure that there would be loads of people who already would have stopped playing if our servers would not exist. I know for sure that I would have.

I am glad to be part of this community and I feel privileged to have the duty of being an admin on our very own COD 4 servers. Happy birthday for OGHF and hopefully there will be many more years to come.

Yes quite Amazing , Wow Where has this time gone??? Thank you so much for all you hard work flatty.
As a farther of two younglins myself i can totally get what you did for dedly and how great it must of been for you both sharing such an interest , my two are at that age now where their interseted in the internet and games etc yes its a mind field of whats ok and whats not ok. and yes they both know about my gits!! and yes theses will be new gits one day

thank you to the council and head admins and to game admins passed and presant ,and to all memebers and regualrs You make this clan and the servers The

Happy anniversary to all the gits, old and new. And thanks to Flatty for all the time he has (and still) puts in in order to provide a safe place for all (and the admins, they're not bad too).
Here's to many more :drinks:

I've still got Haggis and Gandalf in my friends list and think of them often

Thanks Flatyyy for all your efforts and patient ,
running a gaming clan and keep the OGHF standards for 10 years is really amazing thing.

We all helped you as much as we can , but without you this celebration will never happened.

Thank to all guests , admins , members , council and ex gits , and one huge thanks to our friend Haggis who bring me and many other gits here ,
i am sure that he organized celebration party somewhere over the rainbow

Happy Birthday to OGHF & Flatty. As a former long term tag wearer, I would like to thank Flatsix for allowing me in [in the first place, and probably regretted it! ;-) ] and hosting OGHF servers and members. Haggis, I will never forget his contribution to both OGHF & me. He was as quirky irl as on-line. A wonderful sense of humour and a lover of wine gums. When asked how he was he always answered....... finey, finey wine gums. Baggins was also always about. Even being a cockney!' a sound guy. Actually from Essex but I loved to tease him. A "new" guy was introduced from a far away land. Kingrobbyofalloghfland became a stable influance and became a good friend. There are many more, as Flatty has already mentioned, that I can't possibly put here so don't feel aggrieved. I love you all! [I'm here all week!]

flatty,
I and many others owe you much respect and a big thankyou . oghf has been a huge part of my life , and it has gone as far as my wife and myself travelling around and meeting some great gits . I believe my ten years is up next year , what an incredible time its been , the highs and lows , the bickering and celebrations , all make this a living entity not just about the gaming , its a community of people and machines living in harmony ......occasionally.
im also glad to be one of those who can say I was a friend with haggis , for those who didn't meet him , he did really have this effect on us and he will always be remembered like this . to the friends I have made a thankyou also its been a pleasure knowing you all . robbyy many thanks to you and your family for making us at home in your home and having such hysterical memories with hawky and nanny .
long live oghf hopefully we will have many more anniversaries to come .
cro

I always remember when I first came on the forum no shot and I put a quote from MOHAA on "A lot of good men are going to die because of his poor Leadership" lol, You thought I was getting at Mr Six hehe and you said "now steady on Wildcat". It was just me being daft. I still run around sometimes depending what players are on sending taunts. Yes I know I need to grow up.....NEVER!

is it really 10 years? unbelievable.
For many years you created a place where I felt home and I still remember my first shy attempts to game online and even go to a live chat system, talking to people, trying to understand them, their jokes, all as a non-native english speaker. Good boys like Haggis and others at that time made it easy to enter that community of people where only a few I saw and met in real life.
I can't even remember when I joined the clan - oh my god - getting old too, but for many years OGHF was a huge part of my life.
Unforgotten for me are your continous efforts to keep the servers free from Hackers, I remember some really "interesting" events and issues - many thanks for that hard work too.

I wish you and OGHF many more years of being the only clan a gentle person likes to be a member in.

First of all, I would like to express my respect to the predecessors, who can not be here anymore.
And secondly, thank you to everyone who worked for such a great community to come together.

Last ~1,5 years i've become an OGHF Fanatic..and this can not be a coincidence.
Great people here,,There was no question to join.That was clear to me this is far more than a simple playground.
I'm a 'bit' angry at myself, I do not understand why I did not find OGHF sooner (my bad) .

Thanks Flatty, great work, I think You already know that we appreciate it very much.

As a distinctly OLD GIT I have no idea whatsoever how to host a game server, nor to gather a collective of like-minded old idiots like me to run around and take a pop at each other in a safe and often humorous environment.

Flatty, I take my hat off to you and all the Clan council and extend my sincere thanks for making this virtual world we play in so pleasant.